Police put new safety plan in place in schools

The KETV NewsWatch 7 I-Team has learned of proactive steps being taken by Omaha police to keep children safe in schools, with plans in place long before the tragedy in Connecticut.

Investigator Ryan Luby discovered, if ever needed, law enforcement has floor plans for most schools ready for officers to use and police have requested floor plans they do not yet have. But one lawmaker feels Nebraska needs to standardize what schools provide.

For all officers of the law, if not all adults, protecting children will forever and always be a top priority, at schools in particular. Security guards and cameras have become obvious tools in that fight. Another tool is not as obvious: the floor plan.

Nationally, school floor plans have been in the news in recent weeks. For example, in Cleveland, reports have surfaced that dozens of Ohio schools submitted floor plans to law enforcement that are almost impossible to read. That state requires school submit floor plans to police.

In Nebraska, schools don’t have to. Still, the I-Team discovered most Omaha metro area school districts already share floor plans with law enforcement.

In Bellevue, plans come in booklet form. Acting Bellevue Police Chief Mark Elbert told Luby the booklet contains floor plans for every school in the city. Every officer has one and has for years.

“It just helps you plan,” said Elbert. “It helps you be more prepared.”

Rikli adds that while Omaha Police do not yet have the plans, Westside Schools are plenty safe and plenty prepared. There are buzzers on school doors and emergency plans posted in each classroom.

"All of these things are at least as important, in my humble opinion, as having a copy of a floor plan in a police cruiser,” said Rikli.

Omaha’s Catholic schools are also acting on the recent request from Omaha Police to produce floor plans to the department. Deacon Tim McNeil says the Archdiocese received the request within the last three weeks.

“We have learned, this year and the last few years, that at times no one can be safe, children, adults,” said Deacon McNeil. “This makes all the sense in the world."

KETV Newswatch 7’s Ryan Luby discovered that each school and district in Nebraska takes its own approach to security. By law, public schools have to develop individualized safety plans, which include floor plans. Sharing copies of those floor plans is all voluntary.

“There should be a state standard,” said State Senator Brad Ashford of Omaha, Chairman of Nebraska’s Judiciary Committee.

“I appreciate being made aware of it,” Ashford told Luby. “I think it's clearly something we can handle in the committee and something that ought to be done."

Ashford says he agrees that school floor plans would never actually prevent an emergency in a school, a statement police agree with. Chief Elbert says the floor plans are just one more tool, a critical tool, that could help every school in a worst case situation.

“The more information I have about anything, the better,” said Chief Elbert. “Especially when it's something as detailed as where I'm going."

School floor plans amount to only a portion of a school’s comprehensive safety plan. Under Rule 10 in Nebraska, a committee of people has to approve the safety plans in each district every year.

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